Carolina Journal Weekly Report

January 13, 2012

RALEIGH — North Carolina should do more than make a one-time cash
payment to living victims of the state’s forced sterilization program.
That’s the assessment of the John Locke Foundation’s top legal expert.
He recommends lifetime tax breaks, special license plates, and other
policies in a new Spotlight report.

“There is no feasible way that victims of forced sterilization will be
made whole through any compensation scheme,” saidDaren Bakst, JLF Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies. “But North Carolina can and
should take a serious step toward righting a wrong and providing
meaningful compensation to victims. This report offers ideas for the
type of compensation that should be made, along with ways the state can
find money to pay the bill.”

Bakst’s report first addresses the two main questions that have been
driving the compensation debate: who should qualify for compensation,
and how large a payment the state should make.

Only living victims of forced sterilization tied to North Carolina’s
eugenics program should qualify for state compensation, Bakst said.
While North Carolina forcibly sterilized about 7,600 people, recent
estimates of living victims range from 1,500 to as many as 2,944.

News Features

CJ: Questions remain about Perdue flight operationRALEIGH — New Bern attorney Trawick “Buzzy”
Stubbs faces a felony indictment for using his law firm to hide payments
for flights he provided to then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue’s 2008 campaign for
governor. Stubbs has not disputed the facts underlying the charges.

CJ: Perdue staff violated BLS agreementsRALEIGH — Members of Gov. Bev Perdue’s
administration appear regularly to have violated signed agreements
between the state and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics when they
shared monthly employment reports that were protected by an embargo,
documents obtained by Carolina Journal indicate.

CJ: Offer to buy Black’s land for half price rejectedCARY — Opening another chapter in a saga that
critics contend was a sweetheart deal, the Wake County School Board on
Tuesday rejected an offer from the Town of Matthews to buy two parcels
of undeveloped land once owned by convicted former House Speaker Jim
Black.

“The things I’m willing to do for my constituents.”— Rep. Brad Miller, D-13th, as quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer, ordering a High Roller IPA at Big Boss Brewery’ bar. Miller is a co-sponsor of the Small BREW Act, which would reduce excise taxes on beer produced by small breweries.

This week on NC Spin…Join moderator Tom Campbell
for another week of political discussion and debate on the most
intelligent television talk show in the state. Topics this week: House hardball; same-old, same-old for 2012 economy; guns in the park; and judging the judges. This week’s panelists: John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation;Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch; former legislator Connie Wilson; and former Attorney General and Secretary of State Rufus Edminsten.